If I Could Change Time
by Smooneries
Summary: Harry had his dream that Sirius was being tortured at the Ministry, but what if Harry and his friends never had the encounter with the Death Eaters? what if they were thrown into the future? Teeny tiny bit of romance involved.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **All characters and stuff belong to JK Rowling. I'm just a fan who dreamt a little harder.

**A/n:** This just suddenly popped into my head…I have no idea where it's going…so I hope you…er…enjoy! Please read and review…cuz if you don't that's just discouraging and mean and not dandy for the writer because writer's like reviews! It gives them energy and…_An hour later_…that's why you need to review! Or else I might just come after you in my sleep, or your sleep and suffocate you with pillows so then you won't be able to read the sixth HP book and that would just be terrible, wouldn't it? Yes? Yes. Let's hit the road with this thing then. : P (A tad hyper…prolly lack of sleep.)

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"WHAT DID YOU DO! I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING!"

"I didn't mean to!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO?" Harry turned away from Ron and ran an irritated hand through his hair.

Hermione tapped Harry lightly on his shoulder, "H..Harry?"

"WHAT?" Harry responded, a little louder than he meant. "Sorry, Hermione."

"Oh? So you shout at Hermione and then apologize, but you don't apologize for spitting in my face?" Ron said heatedly. Harry spun around to face the redhead.

"Hermione didn't _touch_ things she _wasn't_ suppose to _touch_ back in _that _room with the dark-veiled arch! What _did_ you touch? Ron, why do you always - "

"Stop it! Stop it you two!" screamed Ginny in frustration. "Whatever Ron did, I'm sure he didn't mean it Harry, so stop jumping down his throat! What we need to figure out is where we are now, because we sure aren't at the Ministry of Magic looking for Sirius!"

"Ginny's right, but where do we look?" asked Neville, nervously.

"Well, opening that door in front of us would be a start," said Luna, waving her hand in the general direction of the door, talking as if what had happened was a normal occurrence. Hermione marched over to the door and grabbed the doorknob. The door didn't move.

"Alohamora!" The door sprung open. The six confused and dejected teenage witches and wizards walked into the opening. "We're back in that circular room with the moving doors!" exclaimed Hermione. "Maybe we didn't leave the Ministry after all! Maybe we were just transported to another room!"

"Yeah, maybe." said Harry, darkly. Hermione turned to face him and began lecturing, "Look, Harry, everyone is just as depressed, worried and scared - " ("I am _not_ scared!") " - as you are, so stop acting like everyone's against you because your attitude is not helping with anything! If you're going to say something, let it be useful in this situation and we might save some time and find Sirius quicker!"

Harry looked at the feet for a moment feeling slightly ashamed and then looked up at his friends who had stuck by him all along, who had jumped in to help him find Sirius after he told them about the dream he had during his OWL exam, who were risking their lives with full knowledge that Voldemort could be anywhere… "Sorry guys."

"That's better. Let's start again, shall we?" Harry nodded. The sextet began to try opening the various doors encircling them. "Harry! You think this is the way back out?" asked Hermione excitedly.

"Looks like it, let's go." Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Neville set off in a quiet jog and then, when they felt more comfortable with the dark corridors, broke into a swift run. They ran through dark corridors and up dank staircases until they reached the second floor, Neville stopped them.

"Loo..look, you guys…d..d..day light!" Neville panted.

"What about it?" asked Ron, tilting his head at Neville and clutching his side attempting to ease the painful jabs from the stitch.

"Well, the sky was getting darker when we first arrived, so naturally, it would be odd that it is now daylight and we've only been here - " Luna looked at her coke-capped watch " - my watch stopped." she announced dreamily - she seemed to be the only one who wasn't out of breath.

"Fo..for two hours." Ginny finished, breathing hard.

"Maybe it's an enchanted window or something," suggested Harry. "They have those here - Mr. Weasley and I walked passed one on my way to the hearing earlier this year."

"WHY are we standing here pondering about whether some random window is enchanted or not?" scoffed Hermione. "Don't we have something to do or somewhere to go or _someone_ to save?" At that Harry began walking at a decent pace again. When they reached the lobby and had just walked past the front desk, a shriveled old man called out to them, "Oi, you kids there! Watchya doin' around the Ministry at this time of day?" The sextet stood there, stunned. None of them knew what to do and naturally turned to Harry.

"Well," Harry began. "We're here on important business." The old man peered at them over his glasses carefully.

"Shouldn't ya be in school or somethin'?" While Harry was conversing with the receptionist, Hermione was looking around, gradually growing more and more suspicious. When she could no longer hold her suspicion any longer she tugged at Harry's sleeve.

"Harry!" she whispered.

"What?" Harry responded at the corner of his mouth but then returned to the receptionist, "Excuse us for a moment." Harry motioned the rest over into a corner, out of the receptionist's earshot.

"I…I think something is wrong."

"Well spotted." Ron interrupted sarcastically. Hermione ignored him.

"I mean…there are extra portraits around!"

"So?"

"Think about it! We're in the wizarding world ("Really? You think?" said Ron.), two hours ago - according to Ginny's watch - the sun had set and now it's day time…and there are more portraits! Don't you think that's kind of fishy?"

Again Ron interjected, "How _do_ you notice these things? Extra portraits and stuff? I mean we were _running_ to find Sirius - "

"Wait…so you think we're…in a different time period…or something like that?" Ginny asked, her eyebrows furrowing. Hermione nodded.

"So does that mean we're in the past or the future?" Harry asked quietly.

"We'll just have to find out, don't we?" Hermione strode up the front desk. "Sir, can you please tell me what the date is?" Hermione asked confidently.

"Why, yes Ma'am, 'tis June 29th."

_That's today's date! _"What…what year…what year is it?" Hermione stammered, holding her breath. The others seemed to do the same because it suddenly grew quieter. The receptionist stared at Hermione in surprise wondering if she was pulling his leg but her question and current facial expression got the better of him and he burst out laughing.

"What's the date she asks! Ha ha! What's the date? 2010! 2010, ma dear! Where have _yeh_ been? And yeh still haven't answered me: what business dae six children have here at the Ministry - during school season? Eh?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **All characters and stuff belong to JK Rowling. I'm just a fan who dreamt a little harder.

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"2…2010?" Hermione stuttered. "Thank…thank you…Sir," and with that she began walking to the front door with a blank expression pasted on her face. The others followed her out.

"Oi! Lassie! Yeh still haven't told me what business yeh all have 'ere! Get back 'ere or I'll call for security! HEY!" But the sextet had already left and the old man was left wobbling towards the door, slowly. Outside the out-of-order phone box and into the blinding sun light the group silently followed Hermione to safer grounds.

When Harry, Ron and Ginny could no longer handle the silence, they broke it in unison, "Hermione!" That snapped Hermione out of her reverie.

"You want to explain why you just left the old bloke back there? Or are you going to keep us in the dark - like you always do?" asked Ron, irritably.

"Yeah, Hermione, why did you leave the Ministry? Surely inside is better than outside? How are we going to find out anything being away from our only magical source?" Harry asked.

"I mean, what were you thinking? Are you going to say anyth -"

"Guys! Let her breath and maybe she will explain!" Ginny cut in, before Ron could continue his rant.

"Ok. Had we stayed, we would have had to give the old man an explanation as to why we were there…I can't just very well say something like, 'oh, all of us had a hearing for underage magic!' and we don't want - "

"So that warrants you to walk away from our only source of informa -"

"SHUT UP, RON!" Harry and Ginny yelled.

" - and we don't want to rouse up any more attention from the Ministry than we already have! I mean, we don't know what happened in the past of this present - we don't know if..if Vol..Voldemort is still around!" Hermione explained, whispering the last part.

After a few minutes of eternal silence, Neville spoke up, (Luna was gazing at a young muggle frolicking around across the street.) "So what should we do now? How do we get back to Hogwarts?"

"Flag down the Knight bus, perhaps?" suggested Luna, shocking the others who had forgotten she was with them.

"Good idea," said Harry sarcastically. "Because Stan Shunpike won't recognize me or any of you from earlier this year."

"No…no, she's right." said Hermione. Harry andRonstared. "How else are we going to get there? we're no where near King's Cross and we don't even know if the train would be there considering it's not September, we can't possibly run into someone's place and use their fire, we're not old enough to apparate, we can't use muggle transportation because they won't know where Hogsmeade is- so that leaves us with the Knight bus." She had said all this very quickly, earning a gradual widening of eyes from Harry and Ron. "What? There isn't any other way is there? We could ask to go to Hogsmeade and - "

"What if they recognize us? What if Stan is still around? He'd suspect because we haven't aged a day! Or what if he'd recently seen my older self? Or what if…what if…I'm suppose to be dead?" Harry interrupted. At this, Hermione went back to thinking.

"Can't we just dress up a bit? Go into a muggle store and buy a shawl or something and cover our faces? I mean, they get odd people on there all the time anyway." said Luna, matter-of-factly. "Don't worry, I have about £10 - it should be enough to buy some material to cover at least Harry."

"Why do you have muggle mon - " Ron began.

"Great idea. That's what we'll do then." Hermione decided. After fifteen minutes of looking for a muggle material shop and buying the material, the six of them walked out with Harry and Ron's face and part of their bodiescoveredwith shawls ("So two redheads won't look so suspicious! And Harry, give me your glasses." Hermione reasoned skeptically.) It took them five more minutes to find a reasonably quiet road before Hermione stuck her wand out to flag down the Knight bus. BOOM. A huge purple, double-decker bus burst our from nowhere and skidded to a halt in front of them. Harry's worst fears were confirmed. And older version of Stan Shunpike hobbled out to the door and began his speech, "Welcome to the Knight bus for the stranded witch or wizard, my name is Stan Shunpike and I'll be your conductor this afternoon. Well, what ar' yeh all waitin' for? Hop on!" The sextet climbed up the bus and deposited their fare before they began walking to the upper deck. Just before Hermione followed the others, she turned around to request for a stop at Hogsmeade.

"Odd bunch they are, Ern." Stan commented. "'Specially the first two with the shawls…wonder who they are. Well, let's get goin' then Ern! Take it away!"

When Harry reached the upper-deck there were only a few people there, unlike the bottom-deck which was full to bursting.

"I think Stan got suspicious!" Harry blurted out after a few minutes of silence.

"Don't worry, Harry, we'll be off quite soon." said Hermione soothingly. Quite soon, after Hermione had offered comforting words to Harry, they stopped twice for some other passengers to get off before they reached their stop. As they walked down the stairs and towards the door Stan grabbed Harry's shoulder.

"You got some pretty green eyes there, lady. Hope you had a nice journey!" he said, winking at Harry. Harry shuddered.

As soon as Harry and the others had gotten off the bus and it took off again, Harry breathed a sigh of utmost relief. Ron started sniggering.

"Yeah, Harriet, nice eyes!"

"Shut it, Ron." Harry snapped. "If he thought I was a girl under that shawl then you must have made an ugly one." Ginny fidgeted around a bit when Harry had said that.

"Come on! We're almost back at Hogwarts!" Neville piped up, excitedly. As they trekked back to the school Harry fell silent. "Harry? Are you still worried About Sirius?"

"Hmm? Oh…I..I don't know…I mean…we're in the future now, so there isn't much I can worry about," Harry sighed. Suddenly, if not out of irritation, it was out of curiosity, Harry asked Ron, "That reminds me, what did you touch back in that arch-room?" Ron turned a bright red.

"Well…I, er…when you guys began to walk back to that circular room, I got really curious, like I was drawn to it or something - "

"- Me too…" said Harry in a hushed voice.

"And I got so curious that I climbed onto the arch and as I was examining the engravings on the arch, I traced them with my fingers…and…er…that's when we all got sucked through." he finished, rather lamely.

"The arch had that much force to suck six of us through?" asked Hermione in an awed voice. "I'll need to research on that when we get back to school." said Hermione as they walked up the stone steps to the main door. When Ginny and Harry reached the top step Hermione was on, Hermione flung out her hands to stop them from going any farther.

"What was that for?" asked Ginny, massaging her ribs.

"We can't just…barge in there, can we?" Hermione asked uncertainly.

"What are we suppose to do then? Stand here all day?" asked Ron.

"Come on, Hermione, there won't be any students who'll know us or recognize us at this point. Maybe the teachers, but that won't matter will it? They're safe." Harry reasoned. Hermione nodded and the six students from the past pushed open the main door of their future Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **All characters and stuff belong to JK Rowling. I'm just a fan who dreamt a little harder.

**A/N:** There is a part that sounds like the book, but it's kinda necessary to explain things, I didn't copy it word for word though, just from memory. So please don't accuse me of plagiarizing - EVERYTHING that sounds like it's from the book, probably is, but only to explain parts of my plot! All of it belongs to Rowling, Ok? Ok. Don't forget to read, **review** and recommend! Thank ya! Also the statue part - I got the idea from this one fanfic, but I honestly don't remember where from, since I've read so many already. So I apologize to the person who had a similar idea and would like to give credit to them...except I don't know how. Sorry! I have changed most of it though.: D

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The main doors creaked open and the six accidental-time-travelers stood at the center of the hall, unsure of what to do.

"Well." Ron coughed. "Shall we?" Harry led the way, pushing aside his awkward feelings about Dumbledore, Harry knew that he was the only one they could go to for help. As they passed the Great Hall, sliding of chairs and the dropping sounds of cutlery could be heard amongst general babbling from the students enjoying lunch before their next period. Hermione looked up at the clock. _Five minutes till lunch is over_. She motioned for the others to hide behind a statue located in a corridor that was rarely used. Or so she thought, forgetting that the times had changed. The students began piling out of the Great Hall and to Hermione and everyone else's dismay, many were heading for their direction.

"Great idea, Hermione!" Harry hissed, thoroughly irritated.

"I'm sorry!" Hermione whispered back to the others, apologetically. "It's hard to remember that we're in the future! I've only been in the past!" The sextet tried to keep out of sight, or at least as natural as the other students who were walking to class. Perhaps they were trying a bit too hard, for they had pushed Neville up against the statue, crushing him, unaware, however, when Ginny turned around she couldn't see Neville.

"Neville! Where are you!" she yelped.

"I'm right behind you, Ginny, can't you see me?"

"Where? Neville, this is not the time to be playing hide-and-se - "

"Go!" said Hermione, shoving everyone _into_ the statue.

"What are you doing?" Ron seethed.

"Shh." The sextet remained quiet until the last student had passed them and out of earshot. "Don't you know what this is?" Hermione asked excitedly. "I've read about them and I've been trying to look for one for months!"

"_What_ did you read about?" asked Harry. "Look, can we talk about this elsewhere, it's just that I can't breathe too well with you lot crushing into me."

"Right. Sorry, let's get out then."

"Well, Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"There are some statues, like this one," she said, indicating the one that they were hiding in, "that are enchanted to look solid, but in reality, they don't have mass for you to feel it, so it sort of works like an invisibility cloak!"

"You mean…hiding in it or behind it can make you invisible although others see it as a solid object?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded enthusiastically.

"How did you know it was there?" Ron quesitoned. Hermione rolled her eyes as if it was obvious.

"Remember when Ginny kept asking where Neville was because she couldn't see him? But Neville persisted that he was right behind her?"

"No."

"You're hopeless."

"Shh!" Ginny hushed. "I think it's a prefect or something like that!" Again, they huddled behind the statue ("I am _not_ hiding in it again!" Harry protested.). When the prefect (who turned out to be from Hufflepuff) passed them and was out of sight and sound, they crept out of their hiding spot.

"Let's go find Dumbledore," Harry suggested. Two minutes later, they found themselves outside the familiar looking gargoyles. "Er…lemon drops? Cockroach cluster? M&M's? Mars bar!"

"Let me try!" said Ron, pushing Harry aside. "Bert - "

"Well, well, well. What have we here? Skivers? What are you doing, hanging around the headmaster's office, hmm?" Harry was torn between relief that it was someone from the order and annoyance.

"Professor Snape?" Snape stood still. Stunned to find Potter, Weasley, Granger and the others standing there, looking like they hadn't aged a day older.

"What is this?" Snape spat. "What game are you playing at, Potter?"

"I think it would be best that we discuss this elsewhere in case some student walks inon us. Perhaps Professor Dumbledore's office? That's what we were planning on doing. Sir." Harry said, coldly. Snape scoffed, muttered the password (Droobles best blowing bubble gum) and led them to the headmaster's office. When the door opened, Dumbledore looked up.

"Ah! Severus…what have you there? students -" he paused and surveyed them closely. "Harry?" Harry nodded. There was a long awkward silence. Harry stared at the ancient professor, who had a significantly increased amount of wrinkles etched into his gentle and calm face, who was also staring intently back at the pair of green eyes. Neville looked at his feet and twiddled his fingers. Luna gazed out of the window - apparently in her own world. Ron and Ginny glanced from Harry to Dumbledore. Hermione looked around impatiently.

"Professor Dumbledore?" she began. Dumbledore inclined his head in her direction to acknowledge her presence. "May I ask, what happened...er…fifteen years ago?" Her question brought Harry out of his trance and everyone on the edge of their seats. (It's a figure of speech, I realize they weren't sitting to begin with.) Dumbledore looked down at his desk, then almost immediately looked up, waved his wand and conjured four extra squishy, purple chairs.

"Please sit. This may take awhile. Severus, will you be staying?"

"No. I have a class to prepare." Snape bowed his head once, turned around and walked out.

"Now, Miss Granger, your question. Yes. Yes." he said, clarifying the details more to himself than to them. "It was fifteen years ago. Well, where shall I begin?"

"Professor, you had been kicked out of Hogwarts because of - " Harry had to restrain his language, " - that old bat, Umbridge…sorry -" Dumbledore nodded his head for Harry to continue. "When I was taking my last OWL exam, I…I fell asleep. I saw Voldemort - " there was a sharp intake of breath in the room, " - and he had Sirius! He was threatening to kill him if he didn't do something for him! I got scared and I decided to go find Sirius. I even checked if he was home and that foul elf said he wasn't! That's only when I decided to go to the Ministry of Magic!" he felt a need to justify his actions, a need to clarify himself.

"Well, Harry. This is what we know. After you gave Professor Snape that message and didn't return from the forbidden forest with Umbridge, Professor Snape grew worried and contacted several members of the order to come to your aid, assuming that you had gone to save Sirius, who was in fact upstairs tending to Buckbeak, who was wounded by Kreacher on purpose on orders from the Malfoy's. Sirius and the others went to your aid but could not find you. They, however, found the Death Eaters, but they managed to escape. From then on, we could find no trace of you. Yet you are here, before me, looking as young as you were fifteen years ago."

"Professor?" Hermione piped in.

"Yes, Miss Granger." Hermione blushed.

"How…how come you couldn't find us? If we were thrown into the future, shouldn't there be another copy of us? An older version? Because it doesn't make sense that there is no older version of us, but there is of you and everyone else." Dumbledore chuckled.

"Intelligent as always, Miss Granger." Dumbledore remarked quietly. Hermione blushed a deeper rouge. "When I arrived at the site, I examined all the possible rooms and when I came across the - "

"- arch room." Harry whispered.

"Yes. I noticed that the engravings above the arch were still glowing slightly. Then. Then, I knew that you had accidentally traveled somewhere in Time. You see, that arch that you came across is very intriguing. Had one of you fallen through the arch, you would have dropped onto the side where others have passed away. And if you had traced the engravings, like you did, you would have been sent somewhere in time - it is not known if they are sent to the past or the future and for how many years behind or ahead."

"I have some more questions, professor." said Harry. "Where is Sirius now? What happened to Voldemort? How can we get back to our time-period?" Dumbledore hesitated slightly.

"Sirius…Sirius is a free man. The Minister saw the Death Eaters and Voldemort at the Ministry of Magic, with his own eyes. He finally believed our version of the events and therefore, freed Sirius. Voldemort? He was furious when he could not find you. What could he do, now that his return was revealed? He fled. He went back into hiding because now the magical world was aware and he knew that it would be more difficult than the first time to take over. He is, however, still convinced that we are hiding you." Dumbledore sighed deeply, and his eyes closed to rest. After a suitable period of silence, Hermione broke it again.

"Professor? Would it be possible to obtain a time-turner and go back to our time-period?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "I'm afraid not, Miss Granger. What you went through, warping time and going into the future, cannot be easily rewound. You see, you used the time-turner to go back to the past, something that had already happened and then returned to the present. Complicated enough. But the arch. The arch is something much different. You went through time by the arch and disappeared from the present. Those who dwelled in the present continued to live on and produced what you, at that time, call the future. Yet you see, although you appear here now, you have already changed history for us."

"But professor!" Hermione protested, "If we go back to our time, you won't know that we disappeared! It would work the same way as the time-turner, right?"

"Logically speaking, yes. Magically speaking, no."

"WHAT?" Harry, Ron., Hermione and Ginny yelled. Luna was observing silently and Neville stared, at a loss for words.

"The arch is a different matter from the time-turner. The uniqueness it has - it works like a malfunctioned, muggle-imagined time machine." The quintet stared, Luna gazed gently. "It only functions every so often. It works and then ceases to function for perhaps five minutes, a year, ten years, a hundred and sometimes more. We don't know. It can throw the traveler back in time for ten years, a hundred, to the beginning of time - or it can throw the traveler to the future."

"You…you mean, it's not set and organized like the time-turner? It's random in its works?" gasped Hermione. Dumbledore nodded.

"In fact, before you disappeared, the last time the arch functioned…was two hundred years ago. Therefore, I don't know how you will get back, because the force and power of the time-turner does not match against the arch and will therefore, not work. Even if you did manage to work the arch again, it may very well send you a hundred more years into the future or back a thousand." There was a terrible silence following those words.

"RON!" Harry screamed. "_WHY_ DID YOU TOUCH IT! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Ron cowered under Harry's glare.

"Harry!" Hermione and Ginny said, warningly.

"It is completely understandable, how you feel, Harry, but it can't be completely blamed on Mr. Weasley. The arch does have a slight luring power, whether to get you through the arch itself and onto the other side of death or somewhere in Time." Harry sat in his chair at a loss of words and emotion. "Now." Dumbledore began, writing something on a piece of parchment, "Give this to Professor McGonagall - she should have a free class right now. The letter will explain things briefly to her, I will give her all the details, myself, later. You will get some food and bed rest. We will deal with everything else, later. Harry, I'd like a word with you." Harry nodded and sat back down, while the others trudged out of the office. "There is something I would like to inform you - about Sirius."

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**A/N: Remember to please, please read and REVIEW! Thanks.**


	4. Chapter 4

Harry sat in his chair, grinning, waiting in anticipation of news - any good news about Sirius. _Why does Dumbledore have that grim face on?_ As the minutes ticked by, Harry began feeling nervous, but he kept his grin on - he knew it would be good news, he just knew it. Just as he could no longer stand the silence, Dumbledore, at last, spoke, "Harry…this may come as a shock to you." Harry felt his grin slowly slide off his face. Harry stood up.

"What do you mean, Professor?"

"After you disappeared through time, Sirius _could not_ accept the fact that you were gone. Perhaps the death of James was more of a strain to his mind than everyone and himself perceived - and then, when you went, his mind just cracked."

"I…I don't understand what you're saying, " Harry stammered, not willing to believe what Dumbledore was saying.

"Sirius is currently at St. Mungo's." Harry fell back in his seat. He stared at the carpet for long time. _Sirius can't be insane! No! He's strong - STRONG! Not Sirius…._Dumbledore kept a respectful silence for Harry's feelings. All of the portraits around the room began fidgeting, feeling tense and worrying about whether Harry would blow up and begin tearing up the headmaster's office again. At last Harry spoke in a broken voice,

"Prof..Professor?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Can I go see Sirius?" Dumbledore sighed again.

"You may, Harry, however you will have to wait a couple of more weeks until the summer holidays come. It will simply be too suspicious for you to leave Hogwarts during this time of the month." Harry nodded his head. He didn't care, as long as he could see Sirius.

Day after day past and Harry would sometimes watch Ron and Neville playing wizard's chess or observe Hermione and Luna who would be found sitting in a corner reading. But most often he would sit by the window of his room, and gaze blankly at the lake or at the students going about their daily activities. The others were aware of his depression and would often try to comfort him, but he would snap at them, thus they kept out of his way and his temper.

Ginny was the only one who would consistently try to cheer him up. She would try talking to him, offering him books about quidditch and defense against the dark arts, order him to walk around a bit, visit Hagrid. But whatever she did, it was to no avail.

"Harry, do you want to go take a walk around the lake?" Ginny asked one day during the last week of term. Harry shook his head and looked out the window again. Ginny didn't have any more patience with Harry - she was worried. "Harry! I know you're depressed about Sirius's condition, but losing yourself like this is not going to help Sirius!" She then softened her tone, "Harry! Sirius doesn't want to see you like this! He's want you to live -"

"Live? Then why couldn't he have kept sane! _I_ don't want him to go insane, but did _he_ ever think about that? Why should I care what he would want for me, if he doesn't care for what I would want for him?" Harry had yelled this and everyone in the room had stopped to listen. Including Luna.

"Why? Because you love him! Even if you don't want to care about what he wants - have you thought about m..us?" Ginny shouted, blushing furiously for stuttering the last part. Harry stared at her. He hadn't so much as thought about their existence other than the fact that they would continuously nag him to do something. He scanned the room. Hermione had put down her book and was looking at him with nothing but concern written all over her face, she was crying. Ron was looking down at his feet and frowning. Neville looked Harry right in the eye and then looked down. Even Luna had an expression of pity on her face. He turned back to face Ginny. She looked angry. But Harry was grateful for all of their expressions - because it meant that they cared. Here he was wallowing in self-pity, and mouring alone about Sirius, blaming Sirius for his state of mind, thinking that nobody cared, when in fact, everyone cared. He hadn't realized that someone from the group would get up and try to say something to him, he hadn't realized that he had actually become the object of everyone's concern - because he, himself, had placed himself in the center as well. Harry felt burning shame rise in him. He no longer wanted to look into their faces, he wanted to run away and -

"Harry, it's ok," said Ginny soothingly. "It's ok to feel ashamed, to blame, to hate. Because it means that you feel and it means that you care, even if you aren't sure how to express it. Just try to understand that we're here for you and that we care for you." Harry swallowed the burning lump in his throat and wiped the solitary tear that had collected at his eye. He got up, took Ginny's hand and walked over to the others.

"I'm sorry you guys. I wasn't thinking right." The others beamed up at him because he was finally breaking out of his shell. Ginny's face was burning furiously. Ron sat their gaping at them and Hermione burst out in giggles. Harry looked at his friends, confused, and when he did finally realize that he was still holding Ginny's hand, he dropped it immediately and blushed. "Sorry," he muttered quickly.

"Well…uh, Harry…wanna game of chess or something?" Ron offered, feeling lighter than he had in days, now that Harry was slowly getting back to normal (if that was possible).

A grin began spreading across Harry's face, "Bring it on. Bring it on, mate."

The last few days ended like that. Harry more cheerful than he had been in weeks and the others' mood uplifted because their friend could now think about things more correctly. On the eve before the school was to be dismissed, Professor McGonagall walked into their room.

"You will not be leaving with the train tomorrow," she announced, "Professor Dumbledore would like you to meet him in his office tomorrow morning at eight in the morning. He will inform you about the visit with Sirius Black." Harry felt a his stomach jolt. When McGonagall was done, she walked back out of the room, leaving an excited buzzing in the atmosphere.

"Harry!" Hermione called excitedly, "You'll be able to see him tomorrow!"

"Yeah, yeah," Harry answered, slowly. He felt like he could breath much better than he had in the past two weeks. That evening, they retired to bed early in preparation for the morrow's event.

The next morning, the sextet got ready and arrived at Dumbledore's office at the appointed time. Dumbledore instructed them to travel by the floo network to St. Mungo's, he would apparate there shortly after them.

When Neville, the last person, finally stumbled out of the fire at the hospital for magical maladies, the group sat in the lobby to wait for Dumbledore. True to his word, seconds later, Dumbledore cracked out of thin air. Dumbledore led them through the corridors and up a few flights. When he stopped outside the ward, he turned around to face Harry.

"Are you ready for this, Harry?" he asked. Harry's heart was pounding forcefully and his hands had began sweating.

"Yes, Professor," he answered. The sextet followed behind Dumbledore and walked into the ward. Dumbledore led the way to a bed at the end of the room, with its curtains drawn closed around it. Dumbledore stepped back for Harry. Harry took a deep breath and pulled the curtains open.

"Hullo, Sirius."


End file.
